Soccer mom: Former San Marin standout Domecus back playing high-level soccer four years after birth of daughter

NICOLE DOMECUS thought that she knew her path. She was one of the best prep players in Marin and planned to parlay her skills into a college education. It's a path that more than a few student-athletes hope for as they prepare for adulthood.

Her path changed during her junior year at San Marin High in 2005, and adulthood came early - in the form of a baby. Instead of playing soccer at the University of San Diego or another institution, Domecus stayed close to home, doing her best to balance her studies at the University of San Francisco with the far weightier pressures and responsibilities of parenthood.

Four years later, Domecus, 20, is back in competitive soccer for the first time since 2006, playing for both Sonoma State and the San Francisco Nighthawks, a semi-pro team in the Women's Premier Soccer League. While she had been practicing with SSU since the fall (as a transfer student, she had to redshirt during her first season), Domecus was a little unsure about playing at a higher level. The WPSL is one of the top-ranked amateur women's soccer leagues in the world, and its teams sport top college players and international players, including Olympians.

The Nighthawks can clinch a playoff spot with a victory Saturday in their 7 p.m. match against the Portland Rain FC at Justin-Siena High in Napa. The Nighthawks play in Marin against the Seattle Storm in a 1 p.m. Sunday tilt at Tam High.

"I was nervous because I wasn't sure if I'd be up to the task of playing with a semi-pro league," Domecus said. "But after going out a few times, it became very comfortable."

Comeback kid

A nudge from her boyfriend, former Redwood High soccer player Derrek Horn, led Domecus to the Nighthawks. He found the squad online and saw it as an opportunity for Domecus to enjoy playing soccer and to get back into game shape. Surprisingly, chasing after a 4-year-old isn't quite enough to keep a player in game shape.

Domecus checked out the team online and contacted it, and she soon found herself at a practice. "And I've been playing with them ever since," she said.

A longtime center midfielder, Domecus plays forward for the Nighthawks. The switch came for a number of reasons, said general manager Jill Lounsbury, but mostly because she just wasn't quite ready for midfield. But her skills as a center-mid have certainly been a good fit in the Nighthawks' scheme, which sometimes uses unorthodox lineups.

"(Forward) is where coach thought that I would thrive," Domecus said. "It's a good adjustment. I think of myself as a defensive player. It's been good for my offense and lets me work on my passing game. It's fun and different, playing with Nighthawks and at such a high level; it's going to be fun no matter where you play."

"She's still a tiny bit rusty. A defensive midfielder has to be fit. They play a lot of minutes," Lounsbury said. "She gives me a hard 15 minutes, comes out, and goes back out for another 15 hard minutes. She's played every position that I've asked her to."

When you've been away from the game for four years, it's impossible to play at your previous level. Domecus is struggling with that, trying to find as much time as she can to practice while still dedicating enough of her energies to parenting and her studies.

"The first time that I played was in the fall ? it was hard," Domecus said. "I thought, 'I've done this many times.' But it really took a lot of effort. It's a work in progress. I'm still not at the level that I was at my peak."

Her trademark ferocity is coming back as well, despite motherhood. "You know, becoming a mom, I've calm down a bit, and I don't think it's to my benefit on the soccer field. But it's still there," Domecus said. "My teammates at SSU joke around about getting knocked around by me. I'd say it's still there."

She's showing that toughness on the field and in life.

Juggling act

Domecus's greatest challenge - and greatest joy - is 4-year-old Annabella. Those challenges started as a pregnant teen in high school, but Domecus showed she could face them by graduating on time in 2006 and embarking on a college career.

A supporting, loving family helps. The girl's father, former San Marin and USF soccer player Jeff Russell, shares custody - "We live one mile from each other," Domecus said - and parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents from both sides are near as well. Four years into parenthood, Domecus is coming to terms with teenage pregnancy and how she feels about herself.

"It has been hard. It was hard. I wouldn't say it's so hard anymore," Domecus said. "I can't emphasize (enough) how kind and supportive everyone has been in my life, from family to friends to coaches to teachers. I struggled being comfortable in my own skin after that, 'cause I never got into trouble ? I never drank, or I never smoked, so that was the only kind of trouble that I got into. ? I was embarrassed.

"But (Annabella) has been the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Domecus knew that the pregnancy meant the end of her childhood, just as it meant the beginning of her daughter's. She knew sacrifices would need to be made. She still can't attend every practice, and sometimes, Annabella comes along. The players also pay a great deal of the team's expenses, since it's a semi-pro team that has trouble finding sponsors in the best of times, let alone when the economy is in its current downturned state.

"(Domecus is) a kid with every strike against her. She never complains," Lounsbury said. "She pays to get to games that are pretty far away from Marin. She figures it out."

Domecus makes sacrifices to play because she understands that most athletes don't get an opportunity to compete at this level after an extended layoff, and she sees soccer differently now than she did before the pregnancy.

"I really took it for granted. I thought it would be a way to get to school, something that I had to do, something I enjoyed and loved, something that I wasn't choosing to do," Domecus said. "But now, I don't take it for granted so much. It's an escape for me, because I have so much going on in my life. It's stress relief. Before, going to soccer practice would stress me out."

At 20, many young people are struggling with who they are, where they fit in the world, and how to cope - and sometimes fail - with the responsibilities of adulthood. Domecus already knows much of her journey and how important it is not to take things for granted, and although she may not have the college career that she once envisioned, she feels that she hasn't lost anything.

"I was given something. I didn't have something taken away," Domecus said. "I'm blessed for that."

BALANCING ACT

Former San Marin High standout soccer and basketball player Nicole Domecus is playing soccer for Sonoma State and the San Francisco Nighthawks soccer team four years after the birth of her daughter Annabella.